British & Irish Lions hit by Tommy Freeman injury scare for third Test against Australia
Freeman had been set to start on the right wing for a third consecutive time in Sydney having been again named in Andy Farrell's side as the Lions seek a 3-0 series whitewash.
However it is believed the 24-year-old may have suffered a back injury, and did not train fully during the captain's run at Accor Stadium on Friday.
Any potential absence could leave Farrell short of options on the right wing with Mack Hansen still working his way back from a foot injury.
Assistant coach John Dalziel suggested that Freeman's absence from training was precautionary and down to the heavy workload he has endured on the wing during the tour and across a long campaign for club and country.
'He was just doing the light walkthroughs,' Dalziel said. 'Obviously it's the last days of the eight weeks where we've trained almost every day as well with the turnarounds, so his GPS numbers [were high]. Wingers will do a lot of high intensity running so he had the morning off.
'He's obviously got there doing the hard work. There's no easy way to be a winger when you are chasing kicks and balls up in the air in the way the first two Tests have gone, so it's quite easy for those guys to get their metres up.'
Freeman has featured in 33 games across the 2023/24 season, including the two Tests in Australia so far and the Lions' defeat to Argentina in Dublin.
He is one of a number of Lions stars to go past the RPA's agreed limit of 30 games in a season for all PREM players, with Maro Itoje and Finn Russell also exceeding the mark.
If Freeman were to be ruled out, Hansen would be an option to come in along with the dropped James Lowe and Duhan van der Merwe.
The Lions have named a six forwards to two backs bench split for the game at Accor Stadium, leaving Alex Mitchell and Owen Farrell as their only specialist backline cover. Dalziel believes, however, that the versatility offered by back row Ben Earl ensures sufficient options within the match day 23; the Englishman has already featured in the centres on this tour and was mentioned as a wing option by the coach.
'It's probably just a little bit around the weather and the way the game unfolds,' Dalziel explained of the bench composition. 'They've obviously got a lot of bodies back that they didn't have in Test one, a lot of size around their pack, so we know that at the end of a three Test series it is going to start to take its toll. We just want the guys to go out there and empty themselves knowing we've got a good bench. And we've also got versatility within that six forwards. We've had Ben Earl feature in the centre and he can play on the wing, we've got enough skillset around that six/two to cover anything.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
Bundee Aki: My wife gave birth on day of first Test, now I can meet baby
Bundee Aki has an extra special reason for wanting to get home after the British & Irish Lions tour — so he can see the three-week old daughter he is yet to meet. The Ireland centre was about to get on the Lions team bus to the first Test of the series against Australia in Brisbane when he received some panicked messages from his wife, Kayla, who was in New Zealand. 'I knew we were overdue,' Aki said. 'The missus calls me and she's like, 'Water hasn't broken, but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions'. 'She goes to the hospital, we're getting ready for the team meeting pre-match, and then she calls me and says she's on the way to the hospital, so I said, 'Fine, be safe'. Five minutes later, she sends a photo, her water broke. I was like, 'Cool, OK, are you almost there?' 'She is like 30 or 40 minutes away from the hospital, so I said, 'You'll be alright, Mum is there'. 'Then ten minutes later, she video calls me and I was like, 'Shit, what's going on?' I saw a baby on the video call, so she had it in the car on the way to the hospital. They're both strong and healthy, so happy days. Credit to my wife. She's a powerful woman, a strong woman.' All of Aki's children's names begin with an A. So new arrival Aine joined Armani-Jade, Adrianna, Andronicus and Ailbhe. When Aki knew his wife and daughter were safe, he knew it was a good omen for him and the Lions, on their way to the Suncorp Stadium. He came off the bench as the Lions won 27-19. 'I knew it was good juju. So I knew we were going to have a good day,' he said. Despite the 22-12 defeat in the final Test in Sydney, a day Aki may choose to forget, he has had a memorable tour. At 35, it will be his second and last with the Lions, having toured South Africa in 2021 too. He rates it as his best experience in rugby, and would love Andy Farrell, the head coach, to lead the touring side again in New Zealand. 'Obviously there's quite a few up there, Six Nations at home, grand slam, the New Zealand tour [in 2022, in which Ireland won the All Blacks series 2-1],' Aki said, rating this 2025 Lions tour against his other career highlights. 'The Lions is every four years, coming to Australia, being the first team to go back-to-back to win the series against Australia — it's up there. You could ask anybody in this team, not just the players, the staff. They have enjoyed every single moment and they can see why us Irish people love having Faz [Andy Farrell] as our coach. There's no better man to be able to do it [coach the Lions in 2029]. 'He just made everyone feel themselves so they can enjoy this tour and this campaign. It's not just the players he made feel comfortable. It's the whole staff, everyone enjoyed each other's company. You only wish you could be in that group of people. It's been unbelievable. 'He was exactly the same person as he is with us [Ireland]. Most of the boys were always asking, 'What's Faz like?'. And I go, 'I'm telling you, he's such a good coach, he's such a good person, he brings the best out of people, and you're going to enjoy your time'. 'Only so many people can say they've been on two tours or have won a series. We won the series and that's all we got here for and we'd have loved a clean sweep but it didn't happen.' For Aki, though, there will be more gifts waiting for him when he heads home.
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
Miyu Yamashita seals Women's Open title as Lottie Woad continues meteoric rise
Japan's Miyu Yamashita secured victory in the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl with an assured performance that mocked the golf's world scant knowledge of her previous achievements and abundant potential. Her triumph was built around a second round of 7-under-par 65 played in the calmest conditions of the week. Half the field had the opportunity to make such a decisive move yet only Yamashita did so. Heading into the weekend with a three-shot advantage over her compatriot Rio Takeda, she was seven strokes clear of everyone else in the field and the buffer proved vital. Only England's Charley Hull, who was a distant 11 shots back at halfway, mounted a concerted bid for the title, twice getting with a shot of the champion. Ultimately, however, she recorded a fourth second place finish in the major championships – her first victory remains elusive. Yamashita completed an 11-under par total of 277 to land her first win on the LPGA and while some viewed the result as a shock she was ranked 15th in the world at the start of the week off the back of 13 wins in her homeland since turning professional in 2020. It would be no surprise if this major win was the first of many. Early in Sunday's final round, England's Mimi Rhodes, who finished T19th, completed a remarkable hole-in-one at the 184-yard par-3 fifth. Her partner, Australia's Stephanie Kyriacou, had made an ace of her own at the eighth hole in the second round and on this occasion knocked her tee shot to within inches of the hole. Rhodes's effort then went in-off Kyriacou's ball. If Yamashita was the champion, England's Lottie Woad was the golfer who drove most conversations through the week. The 21-year-old can't remember what she was doing on the first day of July, but essentially she was a student on her summer break. On the last day of the month, in contrast, she started the first round of the final major championship of the year as the clear bookies favourite. It goes without saying that in between she didn't go Interrailing or work in a coffee shop. Instead, she won the Ladies European Tour 's Irish Open by six shots and the LPGA's Scottish Open by three strokes – the former as an amateur, the latter as a professional. It was an astounding spell of golf, possibly the greatest farewell to the amateur game, and hello to the professional ranks, in British golf history. That she was disappointed with her performance at Royal Porthcawl, and still finished tied eighth, says everything about both her talent and desire. It's not the first time that an Englishwoman has announced herself to British golf in spectacular fashion on the shores of the Bristol Channel. In 1933, at Royal North Devon, Gloria Minoprio wowed her peers when contesting the English Ladies Championship with nothing more than a 2-iron. Onlookers, meanwhile, were agog that she stepped straight from a Rolls Royce to the first tee wearing a blue-black pair of trousers. Albeit briefly, she became a nationwide sensation for being the first women golfer to compete in something other than a skirt. Minoprio and Woad are significantly different characters. Where Minoprio was flashy and, indeed, a flash in the pan, Woad is unfussy and likely to be around for a very long time. Nigel Edwards, who worked with Woad in his role as England Golf's Performance Director, is cautious and yet cannot hide his admiration of her straightforward nature and the quality of her driving which, he says, 'Consistently provides her with the opportunity to score.' 'Her potential is immense,' said BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter. 'She is great from the tee, makes very few unforced errors, her chipping is extraordinary, and her putting under pressure is first rate. 'Most significantly of all, she has the temperament, the determination and the competitiveness to make the most of her talents and to enjoy doing so. She appear to have a genuine appetite for winning at the top level.' Woad was not the only youngster to enjoy a stellar July. The Australian Grace Kim went eagle-birdie-eagle to win the Evian Championship, her first LPGA title. The 24-year-old's compatriot, Minjee Lee, is something of an older sister figure to her and understands that both Kim and Woad are yet to fully appreciate the extent to which their lives have changed. 'It's probably too close to the wins and they're still on a high,' she said. 'When they've had a little time off it will begin to sink in.' Now a three-time major championship winner, Lee was a phenomenon herself, winning twice on the LPGA before her 20th birthday. She remembers that time as 'something of a blur' and expects Woad may feel the same. She also remembers riding the wave. 'It felt like go, go, go,' she said and encouraged Woad to take a similar approach. There's a palpable sense that British golf is engaged in a tricky balancing act, weighing giddy excitement against unreasonable expectations. Alison Nicholas, the 1997 US Women's Open champion and two-time winning Solheim Cup captain, is confident of Woad's ability to cope with the inevitable off-the-course duties. 'She's pretty measured and you can only control your own expectations,' she said. 'You can't control anybody else's. She just has to stick to her own bubble and ignore the world a little bit.' Woad is yet to complete her studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She will continue to use her apartment there as a base while slowly taking the remaining classes required to graduate (it might take up to three years but she's in no rush). 'I don't feel too different,' she said after five weeks that had changed her life. 'Everyone's been really nice. It's been great.' Those words reveal the true Woad. As special as she is on the golf course, she is utterly normal off it.
Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
England vs India prediction: who will win fifth Test on final day of the series?
When England came to the climax of an equally tight Test, back at Lord's in 1963, England's last man was Colin, later Lord, Cowdrey. He had broken his left arm in the first innings against West Indies. Bandaged up, he returned with all four results possible – and saw England through to a draw, even though he did not have to face a ball. If Chris Woakes has to bat on Monday, he might bat right-handed as normal – but then his left shoulder and arm would be defenceless against a short ball. Cowdrey later revealed he was going to bat left-handed in order to protect his broken left arm. His right arm, which was working, would have to do all the work. With England needing 35 to win, the marginally greater likelihood is that they will win. Three local lads, or Surrey men, have to bat before Woakes is required. In the tensest circumstances outside an Ashes series, surely some comfort from local knowledge is valuable. A big decision has to be taken by India's captain Shubman Gill after 3.4 more overs have been bowled: to take the new ball or not. This pitch has been irrational in that the ball 70 overs old has done more – has moved laterally more – than the new ball. So it might pay for Gill to keep his three seamers going with the old, initially at any rate. A second reason not to take the second new ball of course is that it will go to the boundary more quickly. This is what often happens when a second ball is taken: the scoring rate shoots up even if wickets fall, and in the age of Bazball the scoring rate could shoot up even further. Jamie Smith has run out of batting gas since the third Test but the adrenalin could make him fire again, on his home ground. Jamie Overton is a violent T20 hitter so any edged shot he plays against a new ball is capable of flying over the slips. Gus Atkinson has not batted in a competitive game since the Zimbabwe Test but he played an immaculate straight-drive in his first innings comeback. Above all, his temperament is solid. It was he and Smith who batted England up to a working total at Rawalpindi last October after their team-mates had collapsed against Pakistan's spinners. England to edge it England to edge over the line without Woakes having to bat. But, happy truth, nobody has a real clue. The break was a god send for them. Had they stayed out, India would have finished them off in that light and the pressure on. Now they can refresh, and the coach and captain (Ben Stokes) can steel them for one last push in the morning. One more heavy roller will help and Jamie Smith may well be more comfortable facing the new ball if they take it. Break helps England more For all that India's knackered bowlers get a night's sleep, I think this break helps England more. Their batsmen also get a rest – Smith especially looks tired – and the heavy roller can run up and down the pitch for seven minutes more, squashing the live grass back down and calming conditions. They have plenty of big-hitting batting left, and to pick up four wickets so quickly, India's bowlers will have to instantly be right on the money. England by two wickets The sense is that India believe that they could have won on the fourth evening, and with good reason: the ball was jagging both ways under gloomy skies and both Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton were continually threatened. But better batting conditions on the final morning should help England – as will further use of the roller to flatten out uneven bounce.
